The new Mac Pro—you can’t buy it yet, but you can look

Gallery: Two years in the making, Mac Pro gets a major redesign.

For the first time in years, Mac Pro fans have something to really cheer about. Apple today unveiled a redesign of its workhorse computer, which is now a reflective cylindrical case that's only 1/8 the volume of the current Mac Pro. Apple vaguely said that the new computer won't go on sale until "later this year," but it's never too early to take a look at a device that we will put through its paces as soon as it's available.

Clint Ecker

Don't you just want to grab it?

Clint Ecker

Don't you just want to grab it?

Clint Ecker

The Mac Pro drew a huge crowd at WWDC, but the Ars crew still got a close-up look.

Jacqui Cheng

The Mac Pro's devoted fan base from another angle.

Apple

It... kind of looks like a garbage can?

Apple

The shell comes off to display all the glorious innards.

Apple

Up to 12 cores worth of Intel Xeon E5 chips, 40GBps PCI Express bandwidth, and "256-bit-wide floating point instructions" make this one fast Mac Pro.

Apple

A four-channel DDR3 memory controller runs at 1866MHz, delivering up to 60GBps of memory bandwidth—twice as high as the previous Mac Pro.

Apple

Two AMD FirePro GPUs with 6GB of dedicated VRAM each help support up to three 4K displays. GPU performance was bumped from 2.7 to 7 teraflops.

Instead of multiple heat sinks and fans, heat is conducted away from the CPUs and GPUs and distributed across a "unified thermal core." That means " if one processor isn’t working as hard as the others, the extra thermal capacity can be shared efficiently among them," Apple says.

Apple

Instead of multiple fans, a single fan pulls air upward through a vent in the bottom.

Apple

The Mac Pro has expandability, with Thunderbolt 2, USB 3, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI 1.4 ports. Here, the ports illuminate when the chassis is spun around (thanks to a motion sensor).

Clint Ecker

A WWDC keynote slide shows just how much the Mac Pro design changed since the last version in 2010.

This looks like the sort of thing that happens when you tell the engineers to go ahead, do whatever they want. So at some level I'm geeking out. At another level I'm giggling because I know people will say: "That looks like a trash can, how will my friends know I have more money than them?"

Just who does Apple expect to sell these to? You'd have to be prodigiously wasteful to buy one of these for a business, because you'll be forced to retire it as soon as any of its components are obsolete. A 2006 Mac Pro is still a perfectly functional machine, largely because you can easily replace the video and add new functionality (like a RAID controller, for instance) through the multiple expansion slots. You'd probably be running Windows on it now, because Apple abandoned it, but the hardware was awesome, and remains solid even now, seven years later.

This, on the other hand, is a showpiece; once something isn't good enough anymore, too bad, so sad, buy a new one.

Just who does Apple expect to sell these to? You'd have to be prodigiously wasteful to buy one of these for a business, because you'll be forced to retire it as soon as any of its components are obsolete. A 2006 Mac Pro is still a perfectly functional machine, largely because you can easily replace the video and add new functionality (like a RAID controller, for instance) through the multiple expansion slots. You'd probably be running Windows on it now, because Apple abandoned it, but the hardware was awesome, and remains solid even now, seven years later.

This, on the other hand, is a showpiece; once something isn't good enough anymore, too bad, so sad, buy a new one.

Thunderbolt 2 is supposed to solve that problem. It can't make your CPU faster, but hopefully 12 cores last you a few years.

I just dread the dongle/external mess that will eventually accumulate from this. It's a stunning piece of hardware in the glass case, but 10 cords hanging off of it will sully the image.

I just hope there's enough Thunderbolt accessories for those who need expandability. It sounds like a few TB's of external storage are going to be a must-buy for anyone not served by the stock SSD this ships with.

Well, it looks like you can upgrade the internal storage (SSD sticks) and memory. Those were my two main concerns when I watched the keynote.

I guess it's unfortunate that you can't upgrade the video, but I guess Apple's research showed so few people do it. Plus, Thunderbolt 2 is essentially PCIe, anyway, so you can offload anything like that externally.

Just who does Apple expect to sell these to? You'd have to be prodigiously wasteful to buy one of these for a business, because you'll be forced to retire it as soon as any of its components are obsolete. A 2006 Mac Pro is still a perfectly functional machine, largely because you can easily replace the video and add new functionality (like a RAID controller, for instance) through the multiple expansion slots. You'd probably be running Windows on it now, because Apple abandoned it, but the hardware was awesome, and remains solid even now, seven years later.

This, on the other hand, is a showpiece; once something isn't good enough anymore, too bad, so sad, buy a new one.

You are missing the entire point of Thunderbolt 2. And before you say "But nobody will adopt that!", think of Apple's history with similar scenarios. Not saying it's right or wrong, but they are the first ones to solder components to the board, get rid of optical drives, make use of non-user-replaceable batteries, etc., in the name of better functionality (at the cost of reduced flexibility).

Besides, they certainly are not catering to businesses that retain 7 year old workstations.

A 2006 Mac Pro is still a perfectly functional machine, largely because you can easily replace the video and add new functionality (like a RAID controller, for instance) through the multiple expansion slots. You'd probably be running Windows on it now, because Apple abandoned it, but the hardware was awesome, and remains solid even now, seven years later.

This, on the other hand, is a showpiece; once something isn't good enough anymore, too bad, so sad, buy a new one.

6 Thunderbolt 2 ports allow for massive expansion, more so than the PCI bus it replace in the old Mac Pro. Including additional GPU'', external chassis, etc. It's significantly more flexible and expandable.

This is why it took so long to update the Pro. I know people are going to hate it since it looks to be unexpandable but really, is that as much a problem these days?

I wish I actually needed one though. It would look neat on my desk. Maybe they can release a flatter version as the new Mac mini. Especially if it has Haswell with the 5000 graphics and Flash storage in a similar rounded case. (For $600 max baseline please.)

I was hoping for a Retina Pro update though. Hope we don't have to wait until Fall for it. I have money ready to throw at Apple. Gimmie gimmie gimmie.

For what it's worth, the GPUs are actually replaceable. It'll be up to 3rd party companies to make ones that'll fit in the case though.

It seems to be widely misunderstood on the internet right now, with most people believing you cannot replace these parts, but you can, if you've actually dug through the materials.

Everything I've seen indicates all of the major parts (except CPU, which is unknown) are user replaceable. GPUs, SSD, and RAM. It might not be convenient to have to have a specially made GPU, but you're not fully and entirely dependent on thunderbolt 2.

There's no internal expansion, but there is replacement where desired.

The original dream of the Mac realized. Steve wanted no internal expansion and bragged the 'high speed serial bus' would be fine for any needed expansion. I had that, upgraded it to Fat Mac, Mac Plus, etc.

This seems to by a hybrid of the NeXT Cube and that original Mac.

Hopefully in this case the high speed serial bus really is fast enough.

A 2006 Mac Pro is still a perfectly functional machine, largely because you can easily replace the video and add new functionality (like a RAID controller, for instance) through the multiple expansion slots. You'd probably be running Windows on it now, because Apple abandoned it, but the hardware was awesome, and remains solid even now, seven years later.

This, on the other hand, is a showpiece; once something isn't good enough anymore, too bad, so sad, buy a new one.

6 Thunderbolt 2 ports allow for massive expansion, more so than the PCI bus it replace in the old Mac Pro. Including additional GPU'', external chassis, etc. It's significantly more flexible and expandable.

The argument isn't that it isn't expandable, but seriously who wants to expand their primary by stacking a bunch of external boxes all over your desk?

Hrmmmm Lego-style stackable compnent boxes done in classic black and white to stand next to the new donut Mac Pro... NM I think I'm gonna run off and mod some enclosures right now....

For what it's worth, the GPUs are actually replaceable. It'll be up to 3rd party companies to make ones that'll fit in the case though.

It seems to be widely misunderstood on the internet right now, with most people believing you cannot replace these parts, but you can, if you've actually dug through the materials.

Everything I've seen indicates all of the major parts (except CPU, which is unknown) are user replaceable. GPUs, SSD, and RAM. It might not be convenient to have to have a specially made GPU, but you're not dependent on thunderbolt 2.

One of those GPU cards has the only internal storage available. And the other one should have the same option, but although it seems to have the PCIe slot, does not have the standoff for the screw.

They might be field-replaceable by Apple Service, but I do not expect upgrades.

For what it's worth, the GPUs are actually replaceable. It'll be up to 3rd party companies to make ones that'll fit in the case though.

It seems to be widely misunderstood on the internet right now, with most people believing you cannot replace these parts, but you can, if you've actually dug through the materials.

Everything I've seen indicates all of the major parts (except CPU, which is unknown) are user replaceable. GPUs, SSD, and RAM. It might not be convenient to have to have a specially made GPU, but you're not dependent on thunderbolt 2.

One of those GPU cards has the only internal storage available. And the other one should have the same option, but although it seems to have the PCIe slot, does not have the standoff for the screw.

They might be field-replaceable by Apple Service, but I do not expect upgrades.

Like I said, a third party will have to make a fitting part. Standard ones just won't, sadly, but all hope is not lost for maintaining performance throughout its lifespan. I expect Apple to sell enough of these for at least one third party company to make alternate GPUs for it. The GPUs in it are powerful enough that they'll have to wait a few years though, since nothing they can offer would be better.

Here's the problem with it: no internal drive bays or full size slots. That was pretty much the entire point of the Mac Pro. If you didn't need that expandability, then you just get a laptop or an iMac.

The only people still buying Mac Pros were the people that needed that kind of expandability, and after waiting all this time, the new Mac Pro doesn't have the features that made people buy it in the first place!

Holy missing the fucking point Batman!

... and don't talk to me about Thunderbolt. I like Thunderbolt, but nobody wants 9 gagillion boxes hanging off their desktop, and the person that would have bought a Mac Pro is exactly the kind of person that'd have that many things hooked up to it. Again, if they didn't need all that, they would've bought a MacBook Pro or an iMac a long time ago

That is one dense brick of computing. It looks sorta cool, but in all honesty it's failed to excite me. Seems like the engineers had a good time designing it - On the other hand, it looks like every board inside of that thing, besides maybe the RAM is Apple proprietary.

Until Apple does something cool again - like the POWER architecture, or they assemble a massive datacenter vis-à-vis Nvidia's cloud + processor, storage, ram clusters to provide 'unlimited' computer resources to their power users (ie. Mac Pro customers), I'll stay with buying components on Newegg.

The only time I'll accept proprietary technology of this degree in a computer of this day and age (ie. all consumer parts), is if it's the only method of accomplishing an insane set of performance figures within a highly confined space. If this was an 8 CPU madhouse with custom logic for the additional Quickpath lanes, came with 256gb of embedded ram, and a couple TB of redundant flash mem, then sure - Go crazy, seal the damn thing in concrete if that's what it'll take.

Until that point, I want all my gear user serviceable with off the shelf components.